The Curse
by EvadeGelade
Summary: Lute is an isolated highschooler. He finds a new world very different from his own. He seeks to find a way home, but not after making some new friends along the way.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter I**

Lute was a high school student that was always the outcast. He was labeled a loner since freshman year. He sat at lunch in his own corner of the cafeteria, he was always alone on group projects, and he was never with anyone. Girls talked behind his back and the other guys would pick fights with him. They whole school seemed to ridicule him for even existing. It all happened over the summer before freshman year.

Lute's parents both died by an incurable disease. His grandfather, Frey, took him in. Since his parents' deaths, he changed. He used to be so happy-go-lucky then he didn't trust anyone after that. He lost his friends and made enemies.

If Lute was picked on and he would fight until he or his antagonists were on the ground. At one point, he was suspended from school because he sent two students to the hospital.

Today Lute's suspension was up. He woke up to see his clock – 8:34am. He looked again to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. He rushed out of bed and quickly dressed. He ran out the door with a slice of toast in his mouth, rushing out of his house. He had to sprint the mile and a quarter to school, but something made him stop on his way.

In the middle of the street, was a silvery-clear ripple in the air like a water droplet created rings in mid air. No one could seem to see it, but everyone seemed to perceive it as a wall or pole or something.

He walked toward it, but all of a sudden it began to pull him toward the portal. It pulled him in and his arm was pulled into the portal and he felt nothing on the other side then a sudden force pulled him through and he dropped into a black void spinning and flipping over and over again. He closed his eyes as he felt the change in velocity felt as if he was sky diving. He was going to feel sick.

He woke up to see he was lying in a field with torn clothes like he was fighting a rake and lost. He was confused and everything was a haze. All he remembered was that he fell through a portal into a void on his way to school. School was far from the recesses of his mind. He thought he must be unconscious or something it was all in his mind. He tried to stand and his legs felt wobbly. He bit back a scream from a streak of pain that shot through his right leg – it was most likely broken.

He noticed a person sitting on a rock playing a mandolin. He was playing a strangely, eerie, and saddening tune. He stopped playing and didn't look toward Lute.

The musician was dressed in a large hat that a wizard might wear. He wore a long-sleeved robe that ended at his ankles. He wore a pair of leather boots and a pair of leather gloves. His mandolin was made of wood and metal. The musician seemed very athletic. He appeared to do more than just play instruments because of his construction worker like body.

"About time you woke up. You've been unconscious for two days now." said the strange musician. "Where are you from?"

Lute looked at him, but he understood nothing of what he said. He couldn't understand what he said. "What did you say?" He asked.

The musician frowned. "Oh, you are not from here, are you? I don't know how to speak your language, but I know someone who might. Follow me." He stood up picking up his mandolin and gestured for Lute to follow, as he handed him a walking stick to lean on, and walked into a thick forest.

Lute followed the musician and into the forest. He hobbled along to keep up with the musician. Until the forest opened into a large clearing with a giant castle at the end of the clearing.

The castle was giant. It looked like it was made of polished stone. The castle had a wall as taller than the trees. A giant metal gate guarded by guards, but the gate was closed and there was screaming and a loud buzzing came from the castle – there was a battle.

Lute and the musician rushed over to the castle when yellow jackets flew down and tried to sting them. The yellow jackets were huge! They were the size of large dogs and stingers dripping venom. Something told Lute this world was very different from his world.

Lute noticed guards were bloated from the venom and were moaning with pain from their wounds. Some guards were fortunate enough to be stung in the chest and killed instantly. The yellow jackets were strong enough to puncture the guards iron chest plates and shields. Some guards were picked up by the yellow jackets and dropped to collide with the ground.

It was horrific – seeing guards fall, stung, die slow deaths from the poison. Lute picked up a dead guard's bloody chest plate armor.

He began to walk normally. His leg was almost healed as if his leg mended itself in a matter of minutes. Even his bones were almost back to normal, just his joints were a little sore. The musician attached something to his mandolin – a menacing spiked plate on the side of his instrument, that seemed to glow an eerie bluish aura. He smiled eerily and began to climb the wall.

Lute was amazed the musician could climb the wall so quickly. He was already halfway up the wall and Lute barely even climbed 10 feet.

He had an idea – he took tied knives to his feet and carried two more in his hands. The knives helped him climb the wall. He was able to climb up to the guard walkway. Once he got up to the top of the wall, he saw the Royal Guards battle the horde of yellow jackets.

During the battle, an archer, clad in metal armor, was back-to-back with the musician. The archer was notching arrow after arrow and yellow jackets dropped with each successful hit. The musician lured the yellow jackets in and made them dance as they became targets for the archer's arrows. His music seemed to give the tired guards a second wind and fight all they could.

Lute noticed the Royal Guards followed a group of people clad in exquisite armor. The royal family was in the battle fending off the yellow jackets, with the Royal Guards not far behind.

The King was dressed in red armor with an intricately designed coat of arms of the royal family – a hawk carrying a bundle of arrows and a sword in its talons. The King carried a large battleaxe, cleaving yellow jackets with swift movements. His son, the prince wore red armor with the same coat of arms of his father's. He carried a rapier and swiftly and nimbly avoided each yellow jacket and as he passed each one they fell in a heap of cuts and slashes. The princess wore blue armor with the royal insignia of a different symbol – a falcon? An eagle? Most likely a foreign heiress of another nation. What was the royal heiress of another doing here during an attack like this? She carried a lance, while riding a large saddled falcon the size of a car. As the hawk flew by, she speared and slew yellow jackets as her bird flew into the horde.

Lute saw the prince strayed too far away from his father, attacking the yellow jackets, and was an easy target.

yellow jackets began to charge the prince, with the prince's attention on other yellow jackets. The prince turned around to see a horde of yellow jackets charge him.

Lute charged, slashing, and stabbing with his knives in hand. He dropped his knives and kicked up a sword and shield. He threw his shield like a Frisbee. The shield spun and slammed into a yellow jacket about to sting the prince. Lute bought time for the King to reach the prince. The King gave a quick look at Lute, before turning their attention to the prince's safety, _Thank you for saving my son's life._

The horde of yellow jackets seemed endless. They kept coming – whenever one fell three more took its place. Lute saw a hive attack someone before in his home world, but nothing like this. The only time yellow jackets would attack anyone is because they bothered them or they are looking for something.

Lute planned an idea. He was going to make a large fire. He was going to calm the yellow jackets with smoke. He found scrap wood and lit them on fire. He made a fan out of clothes and began to spread the smoke to the bees. The bees began to flee and flew away into the forest depths.

The guards watched the yellow jackets disappear into the forest depths and shouted in celebration they had won thanks to Lute and the musician's help.

As the guards cheered with glee in excitement and victory, one of the yellow jackets covered in alcohol made a final charge to sting the prince. His guards were already rushing toward him, but they wouldn't reach him in time. Lute dashed over and slashed the yellow jackets in half.

At first he began to pant because he thought he ran so quickly, but a sharp pain was pricking his chest. The stinger of the split yellow jacket had impaled itself into his chest plate. He then began to feel dizzy and off balance. He felt blood trickle from his mouth and run down his chin. He collapsed and struggled to get up, but his body wouldn't listen to him. His vision began to turn hazy. He saw the King order doctors to aid Lute as his vision turned black.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter II**

Lute woke up in a medical ward lying in a cot. He had bandages wrapped around his chest with dried blood where the stinger had punctured his chest plate and his chest. The musician, the archer he fought with, and the king were there. They seemed to be talking about something, but he couldn't understand them. He just lay in his cot, pretending to still be asleep.

The king came to thank Lute for saving the young prince's life and were waiting for Lute to wake up, he guessed.

The king waited for Lute to wake up, but the archer spoke.

"Your Highness, do you know why the yellow jackets attacked the castle?" The archer asked.

"No, Captain Gregory. Why they did attack us is a mystery." The king said pondering, as if trying to solve a puzzle.

"But sire, they may attack again-" Gregory began.

"No! The creatures of the forests are not aggressive unless provoked or in defense. We did nothing of the sort. All of a sudden attacking us would be unlikely..." The King began, but trailed off.

"Father! Father!" The prince ran in, shouting. His face was full of fear, followed by the princess behind him. "Father!"

"What is it, my son!?" The king said rising up and picked up his ax as if to hear news of the yellow jackets attacking again.

"Father, news! In the cellar of the castle is swarming with yellow jackets. The cellar walls had their QUEEN inside them! The caskets stored yellow jacket larvae." The prince said. "They attacked us because we had their queen in the cellar with larvae! Father who could have done this?"

"Hmm, that would give us reason to be attacked by them. Colm, rally the remaining troops and spread the word! Open the cellar doors to release the yellow jackets, now!" The King ordered. The prince nodded and ran back out of the ward. "We had their queen and they attacked us. They just wanted their queen back, but how did we have their queen?"

"Sire, if I may? It might be him, he might still be-" Gregory began.

"No, impossible, Gregory." The king interrupted. "We banished him to the forest. He was most likely in five stomachs within the next day."

"Lord Gordin, if I may ask? Who are you talking about?" The musician asked.

"Gregory, please, may you tell them the former captain of the guard." King Gordin said.

"Yes, sire. The former captain of the guard was a master tactician and strategist of our army. He won numerous battles for the royal family, but he killed his commanding officer when he was ordered to retreat. He killed his superior and rallied the troops for one final charge that won the royal family victory. Once he returned, I brought him to justice and told what he did to his Highness; he was was branded a criminal and exiled out of the royal castle and its territories. He was banished over 10 years ago. The royal family believed he died, but I knew he might still be alive. I WAS his subordinate after all. The majority of my time in the royal guard was as his subordinate."

"That's is enough, Gregory. Return to your post." The king said, unenthusiastically. The king had a strained look on his face. His eyes told everyone that he did not want to hear more.

"I will take my leave, your Highness." Gregory said as he backed away and left the ward.

The king stood up and left without a word. The musician followed the archer captain. Lute and the princess were alone.

Lute didn't understand a word what the king or anyone said. He knew what it was like to be a foreigner in a foreign country.

The princess walked over to Lute's cot. The princess was a knockout. She had long brown hair, tied in a ponytail. She had rich, deep, green eyes the shone like emeralds. If Lute looked at them and she gave a command, he might have obeyed.

He felt her prying eyes as he lie in the cot. He felt like he was being interrogated with her eyes watching his every move. He shot up in the cot and looked to see the princess' gaze meet his.

They began to talk to each other, but neither of them could understand what they were trying to do.

The princess began to gesture to Lute with her hands. Sign language! Lute learned sign language before to communicate with his deaf grandmother. Lute began to converse with the princess. She was happy that they could finally understand each other now.

"What did the king talk about?" Lute signed. He was curious on what was going on since he was out of action.

"The yellow jackets' queen was in a the wine cellar of the castle." The princess signed back.

"WHAT!?" Lute signed, quickly. "Who would capture their queen and put her in the castle cellar?"

The princess pulled out a rolled up piece of paper. The paper was a wanted poster with an old man in a mustache and beard. He had a scar running down his cheek and another scar cutting across his mouth. His hair was at shoulder length.

"We may think it may be the former captain of the guard, Castor. He was the superior of Gregory, the archer fighting with the your musician friend. He was banished for killing a superior officer and disobeying orders. We thought he was dead after 10 years in the wilderness, but he might be alive. No one knows the layout of the castle like the captain of guard." The princess signed, slowly. As if she suddenly suffered from arthritis. Lute and the princess were sitting there in silence. She stood up to walk away, but Lute caught her hand.

"Your Ladyship, may I ask your name? And do I have to sign all the time?" Lute signed, he felt awkward if he had to keep signing to her: _Your Ladyship _and if he had to sign all the time.

"My name is princess Catria. Just call me Catria. And eventually you can understand us, in due time." She signed as she walked away. She had a slight grin on her face that seemed a little red.

Lute lie back down to rest, but he ended up staring at the ceiling pushing the thought of his near-to-death experience with the yellow jackets, the former captain of the guard, and trying to find his way home. After trying to think of a plan for hours, his eyelids began feel heavy and drifted off to sleep.

Lute expected pleasant dreams, but instead he had nightmares. He dreamed he was being hunted, running through the forest.

Horses were galloping behind him with some weird looking dudes clad in leather and cloth armor wielding lances, swords, and bows.

He ran through a thick brush, but not before he felt a sudden force push him forward as he fell and rolled down a hill. He rolled and collided with rocks and tree roots.

Lute tried to stand, but his legs felt wobbly. He felt an arrow protrude from his back. He peeled off a layer to see if the arrow had punctured his cloth mail underneath his clothing. The arrow punctured his armor, but left a small wound where it cut him.

He ripped it out then a sudden streak of pain flowed down his back. The arrow was poisoned! He stood up to walk away from where he fell. Then, he began to hallucinate vividly as he tried to walk. His legs didn't move as he wanted them to. He collapsed as he tried to stand back up. He focused to try and stand back up with his useless legs. He began to crawl and make his way through the forest bushes. He made it to the edge of the forest, but he crawled over to a ledge.

Lute heard the horses galloping not far behind him. He saw a rider stop about 20 feet away to notch an arrow. Lute peered down to see a large inlet of water. He turned back to see the rider let the arrow fly. Lute pushed himself off the edge of the ledge to tumble down the side of the inlet and fall into the deep water. His vision turned black and he was in a different scene.

Lute was in a darkly lit room lit by torches. It smelled like a cellar of a tavern. Two people dressed like Royal Guards came forward to a hooded figure sitting at a table, reading documents.

The Royal Guards looked very familiar – they were the personal guards of the Royal Family. The guards looked like twins, but a few small features. One of the guards had a scar cutting across his mouth and his ruffled, wild, brown hair as if he picked a fight with a bottle of hair gel. The other guard had a long scar cutting across the left side of his cheek in an X mark. His dark brown hair was cut at shoulder length that ran down like a waterfall.

"Hey, boss. They found the queen bee we placed in the cellar of the castle. They found evidence that might point to you, boss." said the X-scarred Royal Guard.

"Boss, they also seemed to have a visitor. One not from this world. He fought off the yellow jackets in the cellar." said the mouth-scarred Royal Guard.

The hooded figure looked up from his documents. He pulled back his hood and Lute recognized his face. The wanted poster Princess Catria showed him had his exact face – Castor. "Jeorge, Matthis," Castor spoke, looking at each one respectively as they spoke to him. His voice was gruff as if he went through a hell and back. "You are my eyes and ears in the Royal Castle. I trust you to inform me of the actions of the Royal Family. You also claim that there is an outsider from another world that fought off the skirmishes of the yellow jackets. I want him brought to me alive. Use force if necessary."

"Yes, boss." They said in unison as they turned to leave.

"Oh, before you leave," Castor said, pausing, as he smiled, maliciously. "Don't fail me or you'll see what the inside of a crocodile's stomach looks like."

"Y-yes, boss." They said as they left hurriedly out the door.

Lute's dream faded into black and a voice spoke to him that echoed in his head.

"You have a gift. The gift of prophecy. However, it comes with a heavy price. These visions will drive you mad and the loss of those you hold dear will fade before you." said the voice as if he went through the exact same experience. Then a golden eye opened up within the dark. The voices spoke incoherently, but they burned his mind as they echoed throughout his brain. Lute blocked his ears to block out the voices, but he could still hear the echoing voices.

Lute shot up, gasping for air. He realized he was breathing heavily and woke up in a sweat.

It was still early morning. The sun was peeking over the horizon. The sky a colorful hues of scarlet and orange with a mix of blues and yellows.

He was almost fully healed. His body wasn't sore anymore and his chest didn't burn from the venom. He noticed the cot was moved from the wall a foot or two. He peered off the side of the cot, to see a girl wrapped in a blanket like a cocoon. He didn't see her before in the battlefield or in the medical ward, but here she was collapsed asleep wrapped up in her cocoon of blankets and pillows.

Lute was tempted to write on her face and see how she reacted, but he thought otherwise. He might be wearing a red hand slap and a few broken teeth when she found out. He noticed she looked almost identical to Catria. The same beautiful hair that looked like shimmering light, lustrous eyes that could hypnotize a snake, and her figure was like an athlete's just like Catria's.

He was lost at the beauty, sleeping at his bedside. He apparently moved around too much and woke up the young goddess before him. She yawned and peered into Lute's muddy gray colored eyes. Her eyes shone of blue, like burning sapphires. Her face was flushed bright red after Lute was staring at her. Despite having a flushed expression, she stood up and walked out of Lute's room. Lute didn't even know her name of why she was sleeping next to his bed.

Lute had seen it all. When a beautiful girl sleeping by your bedside just goes red in the face and leaves without a word something is amiss. He just wanted to know what her name was and who she was.

As if reading his mind, "Her name is Nel, sister to the Prince of this castle." Came a voice, as the curtains were brushed aside. A tall man dressed in a cook's apparel decked in a chef hat and pulling a cart with assorted dishes came in through the door. The aroma was wafting over to Lute teasing his senses. The cook was a real friendly fellow. He was a bald man with a a smile that seemed to brighten the day.

"Nel..." Lute began to say as he seemed to drift off into a daze. "Sister of...the prince...SISTER OF THE PRINCE!" Lute realized.

"Yes, no need to worry though. She doesn't need the prince to protect her. She can do that all on her own." The cook said as he placed a plate of rice seasoned with herbs and curry on the tray. The aroma was wafting and Lute felt himself drool over the food.

"Excuse me how can you understand me. Earlier I couldn't understand what anyone said, but now I can fully understand what you say." Lute asked, as he was about to eat spoonfuls of curry rice.

"Oh that, that normally happens. Your body just needs to adjust to this world. Everyone that lives here didn't originally live here. We all came from different time periods and spoke different languages. Eventually, we began to understand one another no matter what time or language we spoke."

That's what Catria meant when she signed to him that he'll understand in due time. I might as well get used to this world, he thought.

"Listen, why does it seem like Nel isn't mentioned by the Royal Family. Why is that?" Lute questioned. He remembered during the skirmish with the yellow jackets most of the royal guards were with the prince and the king.

The cook sighed. "I was hoping you wouldn't notice. She is plagued with a 'curse'. She has fox ears and a tail. We don't know how she came to have fox ears and a tail. She was isolated from society because of it. It is the main reason why she wears anything that hides her ears and tail."

Lute was speechless. "You had me at fox ears and a tail. She has those? Why would anyone hate that about her? Does the Royal Family feel the same way?"

"The king and prince apparently are the only ones that accept her despite those characteristics about her. She may have slept here hoping to see how you'd react when you saw her. When you are healthy enough to leave the hospital, maybe you can request and audience with the princess. Perhaps you can be the first person outside of the Royal Family to like her despite her features."

"On the contrary. I already like her. She can fend herself and she has a cute side. When she woke up, she was so embarrassed with me looking at her she just walked away. Her face was really cute. I don't think her fox features would matter."

The cook smiled and laughed. He didn't laugh an insulting laugh, but a good, wholehearted laugh and Lute laughed right along with him. "You know, you might be the only person other than her family that likes her. My best to you two."

After Lute ate to quench his hunger, he felt it time to rest up. As his eyelids felt heavy he couldn't wait to meet the "fox princess".


End file.
